


Rolling Stone

by potentiality_26



Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Episode Related, F/F, Flirting and Awkwardness, Moving, Pre-Femslash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-13
Updated: 2014-10-13
Packaged: 2018-02-20 22:07:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2444873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/potentiality_26/pseuds/potentiality_26
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>“Won’t you miss all this?” Vala asked.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I’d say it’s not another planet, but- you know- it is,” Sam reminded her.  “The one thing that’ll stay pretty much the same is ‘all this.’”</em>
</p><p>Sam on her way to Atlantis.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rolling Stone

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [my hc_bingo](http://potentiality-26.livejournal.com/50135.html) square _moving_. This is set during the SGA episode where Sam is transferred to Atlantis, but it's been a while since I've seen it, so I apologize for any possible continuity problems. The title comes from "A Place Called Home" by Kim Richey.

“You didn’t think you could just move to another galaxy without saying goodbye now did you?”

Vala was stretched over Sam’s desk and making it look like a reasonably comfortable place to be. She reminded Sam of a cat lounging back after consuming a particularly large bowl of cream, and the tiara on her head definitely enhanced the impression. The tiara wasn’t a cheap plastic one, either; it was the kind that made Sam wonder if she should take a detour to Daniel’s office and ask if he or a member of his staff was missing anything gold and of immense anthropological significance.

“You were playing hard to get, weren’t you?”  Vala leered.  

Sam was only here to check a few final things before she went through the gate, and she tried to ignore the other woman.

“You wanted me to see how lovely you look in your nice new uniform.” 

“We said goodbye at my going away party,” Sam said, addressing Vala's original complaint. She’d hated to her going away party. The promotion had been nice- as promotions were wont to be- but the energy of the ‘party’ itself had been bizarre. She was moving to another galaxy and everyone was behaving like someone had died. True, she’d said more private goodbyes to Daniel and Teal’c and Mitchell, and- true- she’d avoided doing the same with Vala, but certainly not out of any desire for this embarrassing display.

Vala tutted and cheerfully ignored Sam, looking her over with undisguised heat. Sam's lab was- mercifully- empty, and Sam didn’t know if her blush was in spite of that or because of it. She reminded herself that Vala flirted- it was just something she did. There was no reason her interest should make Sam feel like something inside her was swelling, and if it did it was because she wasn’t used to women- to anyone- talking to her like that. Vala wasn’t exactly available, even if Sam had been at all interested in starting something. She had a somewhat vicious not-thing going on with Daniel that rivaled Sam’s not-thing with Jack for sheer lack of progress. “Won’t you miss all this?” Vala asked.

“I’d say it’s not another planet, but- you know- it is,” Sam reminded her. “The one thing that’ll stay pretty much the same is ‘all this.’”

“Won’t you miss _me_?”

With a slight roll of her eyes, Sam managed to make herself believe that the question simply didn’t bear answering. She had no idea if she’d convinced Vala, however, so she just went back to trying to ignore her.

Sam was fascinated by Atlantis, and she didn’t disagree that a proper military leader was a good idea- but Atlantis had always been Daniel’s dream and she couldn’t believe they hadn’t asked him first. She hadn’t thought of him as a civilian in years. She hadn’t asked Daniel if they _had_ asked him- and, if so, why in God’s name he’d said no.   That would have been too strange; she’d fought back to back with him and trusted him with her life, but sometimes Sam couldn’t ask him- or anyone- a personal question to save her life.

Maybe that was part of Sam’s problem. A million ‘girl’s nights’ had ended with her drunk with her head in Vala’s lap, but she couldn’t ever say, ‘Are you really bi or do you just say that stuff to antagonize Daniel?’ Nor could she ever add, ‘Against my better judgment, I hope you are. I hope I’m not alone in… this.’ Neither could she now say, ‘Yes, Vala. I can’t believe it, but yes. I’m going to miss the hell out of you.’

“It’s hard,” Vala said, sincere face on. “Leaving one’s home.”

And it _was_ hard, no question about that. Sam left Earth all the time, but this was her first time going off planet for good. She’d thought about it a lot, and it reminded her a little too much of all the times her father had been transferred, her family uprooted. She was happy to go to Atlantis- excited to go to Atlantis- but this _was_ being uprooted. This was packing her things to go somewhere completely new, and it was damned scary.

But though Vala was her friend- sort of, maybe, sometimes- Sam couldn’t say so. “When was the last time you thought of a place as home?” she asked, a little snidely, instead.

Just like that, Vala was on her, a bony shoulder digging into Sam’s neck as she hugged her. “This place,” Vala said in her ear.  "And I guess it started when I met you."  And Sam was sure that Vala meant SG-1 rather than Sam in particular, but she still felt that odd swelling sensation again, and when Vala let her go and darted out of her lab, she had to pretend something was in her eye when she left the lab herself.  

Later, when Sam was changing out of her uniform a galaxy away, she would find a note slipped into her pocket. _Call anytime_ :) it said, and Sam wouldn’t, even if it hadn’t been hugely expensive to ‘call.’ But when the magnitude of where she was and what she’d left behind started to get to her, Sam might take that note out and wonder when she’d let that woman become a part of ‘home’ to her. And though, yes, she might just miss Vala, she’d also feel just a little less alone.


End file.
